From the first seconds of the opening track, trumpeter Jonathan Powell immediately signals that his new album, Mambo Jazz Party, is no ordinary record.
With irresistible layers of groove and the indomitably danceable feels of Latin Jazz spurred eternally forward by the campana (cowbell), the audience is instantly hooked. Drawing on two decades of expertise as a sideman for Latin Jazz legends such as Eddie Palmieri, Arturo O’Farrill, Miguel Zenon, Oscar Hernandez and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and Tito Puente Jr., Powell assembles a rotating 18-piece ensemble that brings the party of great, danceable Latin Jazz and Mambo and combines it with the aesthetic of modern electric jazz on Mambo Jazz Party, releasing August 9, 2024 via Circle 9.
The ideas that inspired Mambo Jazz Party began with a conversation with a colleague and bongocero leading a masterclass for students. In this lesson, the bongocero explained the importance of the campana in salsa and mambo music and said, “When you see and hear the bongocero player swap to the campana, you know it’s party time.
” This statement’s simple truth and joy struck Powell and stuck with him afterward. Powell remarks, “I always loved the montuno/descarga part of the tune where the band goes beyond the notes written on the page and just makes the party and energy happen.
”Mambo Jazz Party derives its name from the noble quest to capture the essence of that “party time” of which the bongocero spoke. Aligning himself firmly within the Latin Jazz and Mambo lineage, Powell pays homage to the masters with whom he’s had the privilege to work, both through the authenticity of the performance and the song selection. However, the difference on this album comes with that not typically found on a Latin Jazz record.
Enthused by the sounds of modern electric jazz and the great history of electric jazz fusion, Powell draws directly on the sounds of artists like Chick Corea and Return to Forever, Headhunters, Weather Report, Kneebody, Snarky Puppy, and even Thundercat.
Add to this the sonic textures of the tabla from the Carnatic music that Powell studied during his teens and the contemporary harmonic concept of crossover jazz artists.
One begins to understand the intricacies of the layers present in how Powell takes the genre and, in his own words, “bends” it.Mambo Jazz Party features a scintillating personnel list in varying combinations throughout the album.
Featuring the bandleader, Jonathan Powell, on trumpet and flugelhorn, Mambo Jazz Party comprises Andrew Gould (alto saxophone), the bandleader’s brother, Jeremy Powell (tenor saxophone, flute), Jimmy Bosch (trombone), Doug Beavers (trombone), Itai Kriss (flute), Louis Fouche (alto saxophone), Nir Felder (electric guitar), Axel Tosca (piano, rhodes, synthesizer), Manuel Valera (rhodes, synthesizer), Luques Curtis(bass), Camilo Molina (drums, timbales, percussion), Marcos Lopez (congas), Marcos Torres (congas), Luisito Quintero (bongos, campana, percussion), Ariacne Trujillo (lead voice), Anthony Almonte (lead voice, choir), Jeremy Bosch (choir). Powell remarks on this group of exemplary musicians: “They each brought their voice and experience and personified the title. We were just a group of friends having fun in the studio.”
With Mambo Jazz Party, Jonathan Powell has created a unique musical world in which artistry, energy, and sheer unbridled possibility coincide in a kaleidoscope of mastery. As Powell turns imagined into reality, he does so in a way that no matter how complex, simple, artistic, or rooted any moment may feel, a listener always maintains the sense that it is “party time.”